Free Software, Open Access, And Open Science Groups Join Fight Against EU Copyright Directive's Terrible Ideas

From an item by the always-excellent Glyn Moody <https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20170912/08434938194/free-software-open-access-open-science-groups-join-fight-against-eu-copyright-directives-terrible-ideas.shtml>:
The problem they identified is that widely-used version control systems (VCS) like GitHub seem to meet the definition of "information society services" laid down by the proposed EU Copyright Directive, and as such would be required to filter all uploads to block copyright infringements. Moreover, as the white paper points out, developer Web sites would not only be held responsible for any material uploaded by users without permission of the copyright holders, but would also seem liable for illegitimate distributions of derivative works in violation of the applicable license. At which I can hear groups affiliated with Big Content™ responding “Yeah? So?”. Sites like YouTube are full of user-generated content, too (what is YouTube most famous for showing? Cat videos!), but that hasn’t stopped them being forced into granting special privileges to major film studios and the like <https://www.techdirt.com/search-g.php?num=20&q=youtube+dmca&search=Search>. If software is not the same as videos, pictures or music, why should the same principles of copyright apply to it?
participants (1)
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Lawrence D'Oliveiro